September 12, 2003

The first anniversary of September 11th has come and gone, and I can’t say I’m all too pleased with how the United States is dealing with it. My most excellent girlfriend recently found a quote that I think sums up quite a bit of how I feel:

“With some trepidation I argued that, whatever validity the military and political arguments were for an attack in preference to a blockade, America’s traditions and history would not permit such a course of action. Whatever military reasons he and others could marshal, they were nevertheless, in the last analysis, advocating a surprise attack by a very large nation against a very small one. This, I said, cold not be undertaken by the U.S. if we were to maintain our moral position at home and around the globe. Our struggle against Communism throughout the world was for far more than physical survival — it had as its essence our heritage and our ideals, and these we must not destroy.”

— Robert F. Kennedy, regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis

Cuba threatened us with very real nuclear weapons in the early 60s. Now, the United States government threatens it’s citizens with the idea of Iraqi nuclear weapons which may or may not exist, in order to gain popular support for a “war” against a country with a smaller GDP than almost every state in the Union. The fact that the United States is the last remaining economic and military “superpower” does not entitle us to be dickheads to everyone who disagrees with us — it means we should be setting an example to the rest of the world by being a responsible and benevolent nation.